North Carolina currently doesn’t allow public sector workers like me to have union contracts, but it’s still worth fighting together in unions to improve safety and pay for the benefit of our families. Even without collective bargaining, unions like mine can make a difference. No one is going to look out for fire fighters like we do, and when we work together, we’re able to make gains, especially locally.
“This bill is about restoring the full rights of public employees who are currently given the right to unionize but can’t enjoy the protections and benefits of a collectively negotiated contract,” said Sen. Nickel. “These employees deserve equal treatment under the law, and now is the time to give it to them.”
Lawmakers, workers, and labor and community leaders will announce legislation to value public service by repealing North Carolina’s Jim Crow-era ban on collective bargaining agreements at a legislative press conference April 24th.
The movie 9 to 5 came out when I was in sixth grade. It was a hit, even in West Texas. The decade that was the 80s was full of “Work Bitch” songs – beats to sweat off the toxic stress of the union-busting Reagan era. But no “Eye of the Tiger” could compare with the thrill of the fight that Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda carried out together on screen.
When people ask why I spend some of my very rare free hours advocating for labor unions in my new home state, the answer is simple. I want labor union sense to be again this region’s common sense.
“The successful UAW negotiations demonstrate once again that collective bargaining is essential to a balanced economy,” writes U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez in the Detroit Free Press
MaryBe on why raising wages should matter to all North Carolinians, how collective bargaining power can achieve pay equality, and who are the anti-union forces trying to stop us.
“Laws in and of themselves don’t grant power,” says Angaza Laughinghouse. “We can have collective bargaining rights, but if workers aren’t taking workplace action, nothing is going to happen.”
